Cruz sweeps Wyoming primary with almost 2/3 of votes

The nation’s least populous state voted in its Republican primary yesterday, handing a sweeping victory to Ted Cruz, who got 66.3% of the vote. That’s very impressive until you look at the details. The total number of votes cast was 903, in a GOP-dominated state with a population estimated at 564,000. Cruz’s vote earned him 9 delegates out the 1247 necessary to win the nomination. Wyoming’s delegate assignment process is Byzantine.

Three of the state’s 29 delegates are unpledged state party officials, and only 12 delegates were contested on Saturday, with Mr. Cruz, the Texas senator, winning nine of them. The remaining 14 will be pledged at a state convention on April 16. Officials in Wyoming have begun studying whether to abandon their complicated voting system, which involves three separate elections, and move to a primary.

Mr. Cruz had visited in August, hosting a couple of large rallies on opposite ends of the state, and that the Cruz campaign had remained engaged throughout the primary season. Donald J. Trump never made it to the state, Mr. Kasich visited last year and Rubio surrogates held several events.

With 14 more delegates to be assigned next month, presumably Cruz has a leg up there as well. While it is easy to belittle the small poulation represented in Wyoming, keep in mind that Florida, with almost 20 million people, has only 99 delegates at stake Tuesday.

The nation’s least populous state voted in its Republican primary yesterday, handing a sweeping victory to Ted Cruz, who got 66.3% of the vote. That’s very impressive until you look at the details. The total number of votes cast was 903, in a GOP-dominated state with a population estimated at 564,000. Cruz’s vote earned him 9 delegates out the 1247 necessary to win the nomination. Wyoming’s delegate assignment process is Byzantine.

Three of the state’s 29 delegates are unpledged state party officials, and only 12 delegates were contested on Saturday, with Mr. Cruz, the Texas senator, winning nine of them. The remaining 14 will be pledged at a state convention on April 16. Officials in Wyoming have begun studying whether to abandon their complicated voting system, which involves three separate elections, and move to a primary.

Mr. Cruz had visited in August, hosting a couple of large rallies on opposite ends of the state, and that the Cruz campaign had remained engaged throughout the primary season. Donald J. Trump never made it to the state, Mr. Kasich visited last year and Rubio surrogates held several events.

With 14 more delegates to be assigned next month, presumably Cruz has a leg up there as well. While it is easy to belittle the small poulation represented in Wyoming, keep in mind that Florida, with almost 20 million people, has only 99 delegates at stake Tuesday.